Maybe It Was The Wrackspurts
by Isilarma
Summary: Ginny Weasley is beautiful, smart, and funny. Any guy's dream girl. Blaise Zabini is would aware of that, and is pretty pleased by how everything has turned out. Everything would be just fine, if only her annoying Ravenclaw friend would stop hanging around all the time.


**Maybe It Was The Wrackspurts**

**Isilarma**

**This was written for Round 7 of the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition, in which I had to use Luna to break up Blaise/Ginny. It's a bit different to what I'm used to writing, but I hope you enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, and am not affiliated with Bloomsbury or Scholastic Inc.**

* * *

"So, you would never date a filthy blood traitor like me?"

Blaise shifted, content to keep his eyes closed. "Eavesdropping. That's a rather Slytherin activity for a Gryffindor, isn't it?"

Fingers ghosted over his hair, sending shivers through this body. "And you are currently displaying a very Gryffindor-like lack of prudence."

Blaise finally opened his eyes to meet her fiery brown ones. "However will I make it up to you?"

Ginny leant down until her red hair tickled his neck, and her lips were mere inches from his. "I'm sure you will think of something," she whispered.

"Oh, yes," Blaise breathed. He craned his neck up, capturing her lips for a brief glorious moment before she pulled away.

"Oh no. We wouldn't want to taint your reputation with association with a blood traitor."

Blaise groaned. "Merlin Ginny, you know that was only to keep Draco and his sycophants off my back."

Ginny folded her arms. "So now you're embarrassed by me?"

Blaise opened his mouth to defend himself, but paused when he caught the twinkle in her eyes. "Gryffindor, my foot," he growled.

Ginny laughed and curled up on the sofa next to him with a quick peck to the cheek. "Got to keep you on your toes somehow."

Blaise rolled his eyes. "Lucky me." But he wrapped an arm around her, and though she pulled a face at his words, she shifted so that she was leaning against him.

"You're very lucky," she murmured. "And you know it."

Blaise smiled. He couldn't argue with that.

Blaise hadn't expected to care for her. Yes, she was beautiful, anyone with eyes could see that, but there were plenty of other beautiful girls. Blaise was very well aware of that, he was his mother's son after all. Ginny... Ginny was different. It was bizarre; they were in different houses, different years, and their respective groups of friends loathed each other, yet he couldn't help being intrigued by her. She was fiery and passionate, and everything that Slytherins refused to show on principal came as natural to her as breathing.

For some reason, he had intrigued her too. Odd looks had turned to snide remarks, and insults that weren't quite as sharp as they could have been, until a rather odd friendship had formed. And when that friendship turned to hidden meetings and stolen kisses, neither tried to stop it. They kept it quiet, they both knew how their friends and family would react, but it was enough. For now.

After a few minutes, Ginny stirred.

"I should go," she murmured. "It's O.W.L.s this year, and I want to do better than Ron."

"That won't be difficult," Blaise muttered.

Ginny swatted him lightly on the arm. "That's my brother you're talking about. I'm the only one who gets to mock him."

Blaise raised an eyebrow. "Then you agree that he needs mocking?" He held up his hands when her eyes narrowed. "All right. If you say so." After a beat he added, "It's still a valid point though."

"Well yes, but I'm still the only one who gets to say it."

"Spoilsport." He rose languidly to his feet and stretched, careful to watch Ginny out the corner of his eye. She reminded him of a cat, albeit a temperamental, and very dangerous one. She glanced back over her shoulder, her eyes sparkling.

"Are you coming?"

Blaise shook his head as he watched the door dissolve back into the wall.

"No wonder Draco couldn't find you last year."

Ginny smirked. "Not exactly difficult, considering he can be as thick as Ron."

Blaise reflected for a moment, then nodded. "Good point." He brushed a strand of hair behind her ear before tilting her head up. The kiss was sweet and fierce, and everything he liked about her. Unfortunately, it was over far too quickly.

"I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Count on it," she whispered. She kissed him once more before moving up the corridor. Blaise watched appreciatively; how did she get her hips to move like that? Only once she had disappeared round the corner did he turn to make his way back to his own common room.

Only to find a blonde Ravenclaw standing in his way.

"Hello, Blaise Zabini."

Blaise stared at her. Nobody talked to him out of the blue like this. "Lovegood, isn't it? What are you doing here?"

She smiled. "Talking to you. You can call me Luna."

Blaise shook his head. "Fine, Luna. What do you want?" If he didn't get back soon, Daphne, if not Draco, would start to get curious. Luna clasped her hands behind her back.

"You're seeing a lot of Ginny at the moment."

"How did you-"

"The nargles saw you under the mistletoe."

"We weren't even doing anything!" Despite his best efforts, Ginny had still been dating that moronic Ravenclaw at that point. "And what the hell is a nargle? Never mind," he said quickly, as an almost fanatical gleam lit her eyes. "What does me seeing Ginny have to do with anything?"

Luna blinked up at him. "Ginny's my friend."

"So?"

She took a step closer, and for some reason Blaise had to fight the urge to move back. "I don't have many friends," she said. "I don't really want to lose any of them."

Blaise frowned. "Fair enough, but I'm not going to do anything to hurt her."

Luna nodded. "I thought you would say that. Ginny isn't a foolish person. But I thought I'd tell you not to anyway."

Blaise folded his arms. "Or what? You'll tell her brother?" He couldn't help sneering at the thought. Weasley wasn't an idiot, but his hot temper was legendary. He wouldn't be a difficult opponent. Luna, however, continued to smile.

"Oh no. Ron's nice, but he often listens to the wrackspurts instead of Hermione. Besides, I don't need him for this."

Blaise stared at her. Here was a girl, a year younger than him, with radish earrings and what looked like a miniature pumpkin pinned to her robes, actually trying to threaten him. It was the most absurd thing he had ever seen in his life, and he opened his mouth to tell her so.

Something stopped him. Maybe it was the thought that this girl had accompanied Ginny and Potter to the Ministry last year and survived. Maybe it was the thought that no one would come to deliver a message like this without back-up.

Or maybe it was the gleam in those enormous eyes that warned him that there would be consequences, and they would not be pleasant ones. So he gave a curt nod.

"Understood."

She gave him a brilliant smile. "I thought you would. The wrackspurts don't seem to like you very much." She turned and began to wander off up the corridor. "See you soon, Blaise Zabini."

Blaise could only stare after her. That had to count as the most bizarre encounter he had ever had. He shook his head fiercely; he had better things to worry about than a half-crazy Ravenclaw.

But as Blaise made his way back to the common room, his thoughts weren't on what he would say to Draco, or on the next day's meeting with Ginny, or even on that last kiss. Instead, there was one question running through his mind.

What the hell was a wrackspurt?

* * *

Blaise concentrated very closely on cutting his chops into perfectly even pieces. Not that he cared what shape his food was, or even what it was, but if he was looking at his plate, he wasn't looking over at the Gryffindor table. At her.

"I think you've killed your chop."

Blaise closed his eyes for a moment. "What do you want, Luna?" he growled.

As usual, Luna completely ignored his attitude. "You looked like the wrackspurts were bothering you."

Blaise stabbed at a potato. "You know, I'm pretty sure wrackspurts aren't real."

"Maybe. Or maybe that's just what they want you to think."

Blaise gave up on his food. In the months he had been seeing Ginny, he had come to know Luna fairly well, or so he thought. Then she would come out with something like that. Every single time. It was maddening, yet there was a part of him that couldn't help wondering exactly what she would come up with next.

"You still shouldn't be over here," he muttered eventually.

Luna blinked. "There's no rule against it. Or did I miss that one? I do that sometimes." She tilted her head to one side. "Or am I just embarrassing you?"

Blaise snorted. "Anyone stupid enough to say anything isn't someone whose opinion I care about."

"Then what's the problem?"

Blaise looked around. Pansy was shooting them nasty looks and muttering to Draco, but the blond was preoccupied, and no one else showed the slightest interest. He turned back to Luna with a shrug.

"Stay then."

"Thank you."

Blaise returned his attention to his food, but for some reason he felt better. Ginny had never come to eat with him. Unfortunately, that thought brought him back to his earlier depression, and he pushed his plate away.

"What's wrong? Don't you like chops?"

"I'm not hungry."

Despite his best efforts, Blaise found his gaze drawn, as if by a magnet, to the Gryffindor table. There she was talking to, surprise surprise, Harry Potter. Harry bloody Potter, who had such a huge crush on her that even a blind man could see it.

And Ginny was talking to him.

Luna followed his gaze. "I'm sure you'll see her later."

"Doubt it. She says she needs to study."

"Well, it is our O.W.L. year."

"I know," he growled. "But between that and Quidditch, it seems the only time I get to see her is at the Slug Club, and that's hardly private." Especially since Potter was Slughorn's favourite.

"You could always go and talk to her."

"And get hexed by a dozen Gryffindors? Not likely."

Luna nodded. "They can be a little precipitous." She glanced at him. "Have you talked to Ginny about it?"

Blaise shrugged. "Not much we can do about it at the moment. Besides, it's not like I can't manage without seeing her every day. There are plenty of other people around."

"That's right, you've got all your friends here."

Blaise glanced sideways. "Actually, I was talking about you."

For the first time, Blaise got to enjoy the spectacle of Luna Lovegood taken by surprise. "Oh."

Blaise shrugged again. "You're more interesting than the rest of them."

A smile of genuine delight, very different from her usual dreamy one, spread across her face. "Thank you, Blaise. You're very interesting too."

Maybe it was the rare compliment. Maybe it was that smile. Or maybe it was the combination of both that made Blaise's stomach twist in a way that wasn't entirely uncomfortable.

"Glad you think so," he muttered. He turned away in time to catch Ginny's eye. She smiled and he nodded back. There she was. Beautiful. Popular. Funny.

So why did her smile do nothing to him?

* * *

"I thought I would find you here."

Blaise scowled. "Congratulations."

Luna perched on the edge of the sofa next to him. "I'm sorry about Ginny."

"So am I."

Her eyes narrowed. "You don't seem very sorry."

Blaise sighed. "I guess because I'm not. We both knew it was coming, and its better this way."

It was true. It had been clear for some time that Ginny's heart belonged to another, and while Blaise had liked her, he had known from the start that he didn't love her either. He didn't regret the past months, and he didn't think she did either, but it was time for both of them to move on.

Speaking of which...

"We'd hardly been seeing each other anyway since Potter started scheduling Quidditch practices for the same day as Slug Club meetings." He kept watching Luna out the corner of his eye, but her expression remained one of mild interest. Undeterred, he continued, "I've also been getting glares from Weasley every time I see him, and I've had a number of encounters with Weasley's Wizard Wheezes products."

Luna tilted her head to one side. "Most Weasleys don't like Slytherins. Luckily, Ginny's nicer."

"True," Blaise allowed, "but it's almost like they had a personal grudge against me." He was impressed, despite himself, when Luna's face didn't so much as flicker.

"I think the wrackspurts might be getting to you. Are you sure you don't want some glasses?"

Blaise sighed. "Why did you do it? And please don't say it was the wrackspurts."

"Well, it might have been the nargles," Luna admitted. "But does it really matter?"

"Luna-"

"Do you really mind?"

Maybe he was impressed by her nerve. Maybe he respected her cunning. Or maybe he really had been infected with wrackspurts.

Whatever the reason, Blaise found he didn't mind at all.

And wasn't that the funniest thing?

* * *

**Well, that was interesting. Any feedback would be very much appreciated.**


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